Breguet novelties 2009, Part II

**This is Breguet novelties 2009, Part II,To see Part I

Breguet’s grandest watch unveiled at Baselworld 2009 was the Classique Grande Complication 7637, a minute repeater with power reserve and day-night indicators. The watch is presented in a large, 42 mm case and utilises a “re-engineered” movement.

The calibre inside is not entirely new, it is an improved version of the long in tooth Lemania cal. 399 minute repeater movement found in the previous incarnation of the Breguet minute repeater. The Lemania cal. 399 is likely based on some vintage repeater calibre, with the design of the bridges and its 18,000 bph escapement being two clues; no one designs movements like that anymore, I cannot think of a minute repeater calibre designed in the past 5 years with such a bridge layout.

From the back the view is interesting for several reasons. The movement has a unique colour scheme; it is almost entirely silver in tone, including the balance wheel. And because the gold gongs match the colour of the case, they are not especially prominent, leaving the movement looking very silver and small in the large case.

The movement is decorated with hand engraving in the usual frilly baroque style. Breguet engraving has always appeared inconsistent to me, sometimes it is delicate and fine of the quality of Vacheron Constantin, and at other times it is not. This watch unfortunately does not sport the quality of work that one would expect for such an expensive watch; the engraved lines and shapes are not clean and consistent.

From what I understand the main change to the movement is solid gold gong. Whatever Breguet may claim it sounds similar to the previous Breguet repeaters – which were sometimes good but mostly sufficient – though this is perhaps louder. The sound is no clearer than before; the buzz of the regulator is still evident.

While I like the look of this repeater, despite its size which makes it look like a pocket watch with lugs, it is not a class-leading product; it is not one of the best sounding or finished repeaters out there. That is strange because Breguet is capable of making terrific products, the La Tradition tourbillon being a good example of a unique, inspired product that is competitively priced (a tourbillon is never cheap).



Another watch unveiled at Baselworld was another watch with aural qualities – the Marine Royale. It is a sports/diver’s alarm watch, in the great tradition of such watches as pioneered by the revered JLC Extreme World Compressor Alarm and other such pedigreed watches – the logic behind such watches is perhaps sound does travel better underwater while vision is impaired.

The Marine Royale is a bizarre combinations of design elements: a sharp, aggressive-looking bezel with a serrated edge, enormous buttons and crowns, combined with a guilloche dial, Breguet hands (even more bizarrely the minute hand has the ‘pomme’ filled with Luminova while the hour hand has the tip filled instead) and a charming but tiny quaver that indicates the alarm. Wow.

To accommodate all that styling the case is 45 mm. And it is heavy because it is available in rose or white gold. Nothing more needs to be said.

**Continue Part III

By SJX

From http://breguet.watchprosite.com/

Breguet novelties 2009, Part I

This is part one of a series of posts looking at the 2009 Breguet novelties, beginning with the Classique 5967 and the Classique 7337.



Before that, several trends evidenced in Breguet collection of recent years have been affirmed by this year’s novelties.



One is the increasing use of Frederic Piguet movements in Breguet watches. Breguet was originally a sister company of Nouvelle Lemania back when it was owned by Investcorp and prior to that, Chaumet, and at that point in time nearly every Breguet was equipped with a Lemania calibre. Both companies were so closely intertwined it is a matter of debate whether the Lemania tourbillion calibre was originally Breguet or Lemania for example. Why Breguet is relying more on F. Piguet is a mystery to me, since it has a whole catalogue of Lemania calibres. While Piguet movements are extremely fine and often cleverly designed, some are fragile due to their slimness (like the cal. 71 used in the 7337 below).



Breguet watches are also getting larger (pardon the statement of the damned obvious). What I find odd is that the company is inconsistent in the quality of its enlarged designs. For example the 7337 below remains as elegant as it predecessor, but the 42 mm new minute repeater is ungainly.



Finally, and this is one that concerns me most, is the direction of Breguet. In my mind Breguet has an iron clad brand identity that is a great asset, one that gives it the best chance of catching up with Patek as the premier haute horlogerie house (apologies to the good folks at VC which is much further away in my opinion). But several of the new models, especially the god awful Marine alarm and the overly fashionable La Tradition in ruthenium finish, are potentially dilutive of the brand. Only time will tell.



The Classique 5967 is a time-only, manual wind dress watch. It is thin and flat, 41mm wide and only several millimetres high, in the same genre as the FP Journe Chronometre Souverain and Vacheron Constantin Patrimony cal. 4400.

But unlike most of its competitors, the 5967 utilises a Piguet pocket watch calibre that was developed in the seventies. The movement’s origins are evident in the sweeping, classical styling of the movement bridges – no one designs movement like that today. Innovation is definitely not one of the movement’s qualities, but it possesses a great deal of charm.

What is particularly interesting is the guilloche dial in a geometric Art Deco style which Breguet terms “Art Deco Damier”. Strangely enough, the first thing that came to mind when I laid eyes on this watch was M. C. Escher.

Surprisingly the Art Deco guilloche goes well with the elaborate Baroque aesthetic of Breguet.

The Classique 7337 replaces the 3337 (below) which was itself inspired by an original A. L. Breguet pocket watch. This dial design is uniquely Breguet, off-centre hours and minutes with a moon phase at 12 flanked by day and date in windows.

Source: Antiquorum

The dial is wonderfully detailed, with four different guilloche patterns. On a side note, the engraving on the sub-seconds is extremely clean and it makes me wonder if it is hand-turned on a rose engine, as opposed to being stamped or embossed.

A subtle but welcome change is the 7337 is rid of the rather feminine cabochon on the crown used in the 3337.

At 39 mm wide the 7337 is much more contemporary in size than its predecessor that was only 35 mm wide, but not so large that is looks clumsy. Though the movement is evidently small when seen from the display back, the proportions of the dial are perfect.

The movement is inside the 7337 is a Frederic Piguet cal. 71, an expensive, ultra-slim automatic distinguished by its open barrel. This calibre is now exclusive to Breguet, though it was used by several brands including Blancpain, Daniel Roth and Dunhill in the past.

In the next post I will look at the Marine Royale, the unwanted love child of a JLC Extreme World Extreme Compressor Extreme Alarm and a Zenith Extreme Defy Extreme El Primero Extreme Starfish.

**Continue Part II

By SJX

From http://breguet.watchprosite.com/